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Waste Sampling Voluntary Consensus Standard Development Participation
The Federal government is directed to use voluntary consensus standards, except where inconsistent with laws or otherwise impractical. American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) International is a large voluntary consensus standards development organization that NEIC is involved with. Field staff are members of the ASTM committee on Waste Sampling, designated as D-34. This committee focuses on the promotion of knowledge, stimulation of research and development of test methods, practices, etc. relating to the management of wastes, especially as they relate to sampling of waste streams. NEIC staff actively work on many significant and relevant waste sampling procedures/practices, including ones on planning for sampling, sampling techniques, sampling equipment, and screening methods. NEIC is currently assisting with and authoring two ASTM sampling methods; Sampling Waste Streams on Conveyors and Sampling Liquid with Pumps and Siphons. This work will assist in providing consistent, defensible sampling scenarios during enforcement sampling for NEIC and other governmental agencies involved with environmental investigations. The NEIC participation in this ASTM committee helps promote the development of standards that are in the public interest and do not conflict with the interests and established views of EPA.
In line with authoring ASTM sampling methods, NEIC has been evaluating the use of peristaltic pumps to refine the collection of liquid samples in a variety of environmental enforcement field settings. Enforcement sampling (high levels associated with a waste handling or production process) of liquids typically utilizes discrete depth (bacon bomb) or continuous depth (COLIWASA) type sampling equipment. Field constraints associated with these methodologies can often affect the representative ness of the collected sample.
Variable speed, reversible direction, field-portable peristaltic pumps are a possible alternative for collecting aqueous and non-volatile organic samples of containerized liquids. Advantages include the collection of precise volumes from multiple depth intervals; elimination of field sub sampling (i.e., ability to consistently fill multiple sample containers of different capacity); enhanced sampling equipment cleanliness, reduced cross-contamination, and little or no field decontamination (i.e., for each sampling station, use of dedicated medical-grade tubing which can be purged between each depth interval); and combined with other technologies (for example, infrared imaging or fiber optic techniques), the ability to target discrete, sometimes very thin, layers in multiple phase liquids.